Honesty
by twicebornbacchus
Summary: Oneshot! Set during the Clow TimeLoop; after Syaoran has gone to sleep, Fai admonishes Kurogane to be more forthcoming about his pain. Fluffyness for theescapistimage.


"You're not going to take your headpiece off?"

Kurogane huffed and looked away. His weight shifted on the bed uneasily; he wasn't sure what hurt more – his arm, or his pride. _As we travel together, there will be more and more things we can't hide, _Fai had said; what things Fai had left to hide, he didn't know. Celes had left the man stripped bare of his lies and his past, emotionally flayed to the point of rawness…but newness, too. It was like being, in some ways, with a whole new person: someone who smiled a lot less broadly, but sincerely.

Not to mention someone who was still obnoxiously observant. If he wanted to hide his pain, that was his business; Syaoran didn't need anything else to worry about. Mokona, too; enough was piled upon them all already. When he had cut off his limb, he had done so with the expectation of never having an arm again. To complain about a little pain…even a lot of pain…was ungrateful. He could stomach it.

"_Ow!"_

"Ssh!" Fai hissed close to him, yellow eyes darting to Syaoran's door. "You'll wake him up." He pulled the armor back further, poking at the metal that had dug and twisted into his flesh. It leaked out in tiny rivulets in spots; in other places, the blood has crusted and dried. Fai scratched at it with his nail and pulled away, licking his fingers.

"I'll clean it up. If any more of it dries, it could inhibit its movement."

"You think so…?"

"Maybe." Fai frowned. "I don't know how this thing works. It looks like magic to me, but it's just technology. When we get to Piffle World again, we'll have Tomoyo get you a new one."

Kurogane shuddered; as much pain as the mechanical arm caused him, the thought of all those tubes and metal snaking _out _of his flesh – flesh that already begun to heal around it – was unpleasant, at best. And then, of course, a _new _arm would have to go in… He swallowed and leaned down, hoping to hide his thoughts behind the collar of his cloak. "You really think we'll get to Piffle World again?"

"If we don't, it's because we've failed to save Sakura, and we're all dead." Some of his old humor came back; Fai gave a wry grin, seating himself next to him. "I don't know about you, but I have no intention of dying, so I intend to at least _try _and make it to Piffle…and you're coming, too."

"I have to." He grit his teeth; Fai was poking between the joints of the arm again, touching where it buried into his shoulder socket. "You'd go hungry without me."

Fai smiled his new smile and didn't reply. He leaned in, blonde bangs brushing against his skin.

"What are you –"

"This will be quicker…and less painful for you."

Kurogane locked his eyes on the window, shivering. A soft, wet tongue moved over the wounds, licking away the blood. The sensation alternated between stinging pain and a near tenderness that he wasn't sure he understood.

Fai spoke, his quiet voice lifting up to him. "You can let your guard down around me, you know. I understand about you not wanting to upset Syaoran, but…" Kurogane let Fai pull his arm up, licking at the fresh and dried trails of blood above his armor's side plate. "…you've seen me at my worst."

"It's not worth complaining about."

"The point is that it's alright if you do." Kurogane glanced down and saw two blue eyes glaring sternly up at him.

"I already told you that it hurts."

Fai sat back, lowering Kurogane's arm. They stared at each other, their thoughts tucked away behind two sets of eyes locked in an unwavering, stubborn gaze.

"Syaoran's not the only one who worries about you, you know."

"I know." He grunted and tried to fake a grin. "The pork-bun –"

"Kurogane."

He stopped short, unsure what to say or do. His grin, half-hearted as it was, fell away completely, replaced by an open grimace of suffering.

Fai actually smiled a little.

"You're a sadist." Kurogane sighed wearily. "I get it now."

"No." Fai leaned in suddenly, his expression unreadable. "I don't _like _to see you in pain…but when you try to hide it, you remind me of myself. An earlier me…who I didn't like very much. People can lie with their words, but just as easily with their expressions…"

Kurogane reached forward and put a hand on his shoulder, as if to say, _forget about it. It's the past. All we have is the present – and maybe, if we're lucky, the future. _Fai looked up, startled out of his own thoughts, and leaned forward suddenly.

"Hold still," he said. "I think you have some blood on your mouth…"

"…I don't think I do…"

That new, small smile came back, a hint of mischievousness glimmering in Fai's sapphire eyes. Briefly, the thought returned – _what did Fai still have to hide?_ – but suddenly it was gone, because he could feel the soft bangs against his forehead again, and Fai was leaning in very close – closer, really, than Kurogane could ever remember him being…

His grip on his shoulder slackened; the whole world seemed to have tilted suddenly with a violent jolt that left him blinking. The playfulness in Fai's eyes was gone, replaced by shock, and then he was slipping down, collapsing into Kurogane's lap, his eyes closed in sleep.

Kurogane felt his own mind blacken out as time reset around them, shoving them rudely into unconsciousness. _Damn, _came his last thought before he was forced asleep by the world, _I could have had a great night. _

He would have to remember to file it away in the morning as yet another reason to kill Fei Wang.

**Fin. **


End file.
